01011001
by Juular
Summary: This story is based off of Ayreon's epic 01011001, the characters are from FFX-2 and there may be some OOC. This story details the struggle of the Forevers after their experiments with humans go horribly wrong. The year is 2085 . . the last year of Earth.
1. Recalling: Forever of the Stars

Disclaimer: _I do not own Ayreon or any of their songs, all glory goes to Arjen and his utter brilliance._

Recalling: "Forever" of the Stars

They gathered and waited, the humans watched the familiar lights and sounds that gathered before the all too human, haunting voice spoke, the voice that had plagued them so with its trials and dangers that had killed four of them, and left only four.

The Roman stood resilient . .

The Knight watched warily, fearing his earlier questionings may have angered the being . .

The Hippie watched in wonder . .

The Futureman waited patiently, ready for whatever came next . .

"I am of the stars. I am called "forever". Eternity courses through my veins. It is cold beyond your sun where we come from. We seed the universe with the milk of a million moons. You are that seed. Your earth is our experiment. We vanquished the dinosaurs with the careless trajectory of  
a child's lost meteorite. We peopled your planet to experience your emotions - such feelings lost to us aeons ago. How we envied you your loves and passions, your dangerous desires. The fires of your emotions gleamed like lost beacons in the darkened depths of the fathomless universe. And eight of you, plucked from Time. Not randomly, you understand. Representatives of  
your world's turbulent history. We have observed your tribulations from nameless nebulae. The experiment is over. I am weary now. So tired. I too am far from home. Open the gate - complete the circle. You won't remember - you won't recall - for I am only the air that you breathe, after all . ."

The old, decrepit door creaked open and the four turned to face it, resilience shining in their eyes and a new found knowledge still fresh in their minds. Out of all of them, it was the Futureman who grieved inwardly at the fact that he would soon forget what he had learned. The things he had seen while in this world of psychogenesis frightened him . .

The path of man was not a bright one . . and he would not be able to warn anyone . . . .

Author's Notes: Short yes, but it has a little something to do with the events that will come later in the story, which will only involve one of these characters . . once. This story will be based off of Arjen A. Lucassen's album 01011001. The Ayreon project is very complex, and if anyone has any questions please feel free to ask me. The upcoming chapters will be longer. And just in case, this chapter comes from the end of Ayreon's album Into the Electric Castle.


	2. Age of Shadows

_This chapter will merely introduce the characters and their feelings towards the present occurrences. Yeah, there is one FF-X character in here. One last thing, the planet the Forevers live on in called Y._

Age of Shadows

"We . . we never saw this coming . ." the Forever sank to his knees and buried his face in his hands. He shook his head, "Pride comes before the fall, we always told ourselves this and we never heeded the warnings," he looked up and around him, "buried deep within us . . all."

"The age of shadows has begun, it seems." another Forever, Nooj, said. He stood by a window in the artificial environment. Outside the image melted to show the cold world that existed beyond the computer barrier. Great towers of iron and advanced technology could be seen extending up and into the sky.

"Giant machines blot out our sun . . I won't accept what we've become!" a third Forever, Gippal, said. He had been standing by the window. He placed his hands on the seal and inclined his head. "We depended too much on machines to survive. And now they control us." he growled.

The first Forever stood and came to the window to join the others, "It was our quenchless thirst for knowledge." he said. Nooj turned to face him. "Our need to change," he started pacing, "to grow!"

"Calm down, Brother." Nooj says, his voice very monotone.

"It was our need to expand the nation. That!" he wheeled around to face the others. "That is one of the major factors that allowed us to change . . to grow . . to rise from the depths below!"

"How poetic." Gippal growled.

"Brother, you need to calm down, damn it!" Nooj said again, slamming his cane onto the floor.

"I . . cannot . . even if I could . . could feel. I don't remember what anger feels like. What love feels like . . I cannot feel!" two more Forevers appear in the room and overhear Brother's rant.

One, Rikku, nods, "He's right." Gippal turns to face her. "Do any of us remember what it felt like to love, to feel anger? I would give anything to feel sorrow, even." she hangs her head and sinks to the floor.

"It's these damned machines!" the other, Tidus, says. "Too many machines. They've taken away our emotions, our feelings."

"I know what you mean." Gippal said.

"No more aggression . ." Tidus said.

"No more initiative . ." Rikku said from where she sat.

"No more suppression . ."

"No more emotions . ."

"No more recession . ."

"No more of all the feelings we shared," she looked up at the others, "the feelings that made us who we really are . . were . ."

"No more possessions . ."

"No more euphoria . ."

"No more obsessions . ."

"No more sensations . ."

"No more depression . ."

"No more of all the passions that shaped our hearts and made us who we really . . were . ."

"Are you two through yet?" Brother snapped.

"Leave them be." a strong voice said calmly. Brother immediately turned his head and began to grumble his own lamentings. Auron walked into the room and stood by Gippal. He placed a hand on the Forever's shoulder but Gippal pulled away. Auron sighed.

"Don't dwell on it. We were stupid, all of us. At least we . . some of us . . are still alive."

"How can we not, Auron?" Rikku sighed. "We are _forever_! We won't die, not like this, anyway. Sentenced by ourselves to live out the rest of our lives, for the rest of time, in this . . this . . hollow hell-hole!"

"Nicely put." Tidus and Gippal sounded at the same time.

"Time . ." Auron sighed, ". . is but a passageway. This is only the beginning of the end, my dear friends, an end that never was. Time is but a curve in space, really."

"Thanks for the lesson but we already knew that, old man!" Gippal snapped.

Auron ignored the younger Forever, "As Rikku said, we are forever, eternal prisoners in time . ."

"Prisoners who are waiting for no one!" a female voice cut Auron off. He nodded.

"Finally you show yourself, Paine."

"I was just . . I needed to be alone." she said. She folded her arms over her chest and stared out one of the windows, a strange glint in her eyes.

"As I was saying, we are forever. Caught in a cold inertia and as Paine stated we are waiting for no one."

"That's because there's no one left." Paine said. "Forever we yearn, forever we learn. And still it's not enough . . Forever we live a lie while forever is slipping by and forever we flee. And forever we'll be. Forever is but a dream, forever is but a scream. Forever we try and forever we die!"

"That took her long enough." Tidus snorted. Paine gave him a look and he turned his attention elsewhere.

"We did this." Nooj said, gesturing out the window. "So many wars, so much pollution. We never had enough and it took an apocalypse to make us see it."

"We thought we had peace." Paine walked to the window and hung her head. "But the spell of love wore off . . the zest for life turned out to not be enough. Longing, hoping waiting . . for no one! We never had enough! We always wanted more and more and more! And look what it did to us! Our greed, our lusts our desires. We neglected to feel anything aside from our own selfish desires and now we'll never feel . . anything . . ever again."

"We tried sending out signals . . tried to ask for help but . ." Rikku sighed and her head drooped.

"Nothing." Gippal finished for her.

"And now we're stuck in this virtual cage, all feelings gone, all signs of life and sentience nonexistent." Tidus growled.

"Longing . . hoping . . waiting . . for no one." Auron said. They all remained silent and watched through the window, all trying to remember what it felt like to feel, what their world used to be like.

"Still caught up in your memories, huh?" a voice asked. Paine turned to face the speaker.

"Baralai, I've . ." he held up a hand and she stopped.

"We're plugged into the Dream Sequencer! Use it, damn it! That's where I've been, Yuna and Buddy are doing the same thing. I've been able to experience and feel again, but of course I was cut off after a short time." he said the last part with some distaste.

"I don't think it would be too wise to linger in the Sequencer, we may get too wrapped up in it and never want to leave." Auron said.

"And I realize that, which is why I told the system to cut off after a certain amount of time." Baralai said. Auron nodded and looked back out the window. Baralai watched them for a few minutes. "Oh my . . listen, just set a time limit and go into the Sequencer if you're all so bored!"

Rikku turned to face him and then nodded, "Yeah, I'm gonna do that for a little while." she said. She stood still for a moment and then slowly faded as the Dream Sequencer took her into the system. A few seconds later Gippal and Nooj faded away. Tidus followed shortly after and Auron faded out too. Baralai watched the window for a moment. He took a deep breath and then vanished, not into the Sequencer but to another part of the virtual reality. Paine vanished as well.

Brother was the last one. He stood by the window still thinking. Finally he sighed and shook his head, "We never heeded the warning, buried deep within us all." slowly he faded.

Author's Note: Okay, I know that this isn't all that long but just bear with me. This story will take a little time to settle in as you get a feel of how the different characters think. The next chapter will be very short, unfortunately. Ah yes, one other thing I forgot to mention, they do have real bodies, but are plugged into a virtual reality world called the Dream Sequencer. I know that the story says that but there's something it doesn't say. Their real bodies are mostly mechanized and that is what has removed all feelings. They have been alive for a very long time and most are tired of living, which is why the OOC.

- Thank-you for reading.


	3. Comatose

Comatose

"I'm sick of this!" Baralai sighed. "So cold. So empty." he turned around to face Paine, who had followed him to another section of the virtual reality. "How long have we been here? How long did it take us to realize that we were killing ourselves?!"

Paine regarded him with empty eyes, "We only realized it at the last second. When the end came."

"You mean for them!" Baralai spat. His gaze softened, "I just . . I want to feel. I want to know what it was like again. To be alive."

"We are alive . ."

"But not emotionally. Our minds are dead, cold! We ripped our very souls from our bodies in exchange for immortality. Immortality that, may I remind you, has left us as shells in this false world!"

"There's no need to feel. As long as we are here there is a way. Somehow we will figure it out."

"A way . . a _way_?!" Baralai roared, his mechanized mind allowing him to exhibit emotion, though he felt nothing. "A way to what? To revive our race? Is that really so wise?"

"There is always hope . ."

"Which we cannot feel!"

"I don't have to feel it. I just know that there is a way. That is hope. There is no need to feel."

Baralai shook his head and fell to his knees, "I need to. I need to . . I can't stand this. We're dead and we don't accept it!" he whispered.

Paine walked to him and knelt down before him. She placed a hand on his face, "No need . . no need to feel the pain. No need to feel betrayed. No need to feel inane. No need to feel afraid. Without those limitations, we're better."

Baralai's eyes flicked upwards. The artificial sky melted to form a deep, black space filled with the twinkling lights of stars. "Wake me up," his eyes fell back to meet Paine's, "before I die. As I gaze upon the sky . . comatose. We are all asleep, and this is just a dream. Figuratively, but a dream nonetheless." he glanced back at the sky once, "You can't even see the stars on Y anymore." he sighed. "No reason to survive, I suppose. Wake us up before we die."

Paine frowned, "No need to feel desire."

"But I need you with me." Baralai gently grabbed Paine by the shoulders.

The silver-haired woman shook her head, "No need to feel so small."

"But . . I need to feel secure. To know that I'm real . . that I exist!"

"No need to feel the fire."

"But I need to feel free!"

"No need to feel at all."

"But I need to know for sure!"

"There is no reason, this is a hopeless struggle. We cannot feel. There may be a way to someday feel again, but for now we cannot and we can use that advantage to figure out a way to regain our former lives. Emotions are a distraction, Baralai. It is hopeless to chase them."  
Baralai watched her for a moment, his eyes flickering from her to the sky, finally they rested on the sky, "Then promise me. Wake me up before I die, hold me close as I gaze upon the sky . . comatose. No reason to survive I suppose." slowly he closed his eyes. "Wake us up before we die."

Author's Note: This chapter was short, but so is the song. Even so, it is a beautiful song nonetheless. I highly recommend _Ayreon_ to any music lover. The _Ayreon_ project, created by Arjen A. Lucassen, is a six album long epic detailing the fall of the human race by its own hands and the struggle of the Forevers. Of course, 01011001 is the only album that actually centers around the Forevers. All the others center around humans while only hinting at or barely involving the ancient race. The music is a mix of many different instruments and extraordinary singing and lyrics. Every album contains a different group of singers, and Arjen himself sings only every-so-often in his music.


	4. Liquid Eternity

_This chapter is mostly about the Forevers talking about how their world changed and about Baralai's loss of hope._

Liquid Eternity

"Once a world, endless and free." Auron sighed, gazing into space. "Our horizons were unbroken."

"And how long ago was that?" Gippal snorted. Buddy just stared at the two Forevers as they spoke. They were all three standing in an area filled with fog, lights dancing in the sky caused the fog to change colors.

Auron merely nodded, "Now a world of bounded frontiers . . . our home."

Gippal nodded, "Once a world, eternal and blue. Floating, escaping. Now a world that's blinding my view. Shadows . . escaping. Alone." he looked down at his hand and sighed. Auron could tell that as Gippal simply stared at his hand he was thinking of his present form.

"We used to be free." Auron said. "But as we advanced we entered a slow succession into mechanized beings. Now we are immortal. Now we truly are Forever."

"We always were." a soft voice made the other two Forevers turn.

"Yuna." Auron nodded. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever come out of the Sequencer."

"I wouldn't stay. No matter how tempting. But Auron, what you said isn't exactly true."

"Oh, how so?"

"In a way we always were eternal. The liquid eternity that crosses our veins, nourishes our brains. That made us last longer than most races."

"An unfair advantage, thank the Migrator." Gippal said with a nod.

"Liquid eternity, a world that does not live. A life that does not yield." Yuna said. Brother, Rikku and Baralai appeared.

"Think about it, though. Our world used to be one of fear and dismay. Of fleeing and hiding. Wars tore at our planet and disease and injury killed many of us. Now ours is a world that is peaceful and safe. One that is caring and providing." Buddy tried to explain.

"At what cost?" Gippal snapped. "Our lives. Our bodies. Our world?"

"What, would you prefer the pain and suffering we had? What about to be in peril, maybe even dead?! Would you prefer to live the life we've learned to dread? Or would you prefer to live a mortal life instead?" Brother asked.

Auron sighed, "Our home . ." Baralai cut him off.

"In a way, I agree with Gippal. I'm losing my reason to live. This cold, meaningless existence, for all eternity, just doesn't seem to _excite_ me."

"But . . but," Rikku stammered, "the systems got so much to give!" she watched him for a moment, realization coming to her. "Or would you rather . . die?"

"I'm losing my pride and my joy. My very will to believe. I don't want to either."

"Why would you come back and destroy all we have achieved?!" Rikku yelled, trying to understand his reasoning.

"We are being kept alive for a reason! We are fueled by liquid eternity. It nourishes us and keeps us alive." Yuna argued.

"I could care less!" Baralai spat. "Give me this grand reason that we're being _imprisoned_ here for. If it's so extraordinary then how come no one can tell me just what it is? What is so important that we have to live in this hell?!"

"Do you want to die?" Brother grabbed Baralai by the shoulders. "Do you want to be mortal? To live in fear, to live in pain? Alone?!" Baralai pushed Brother away. "Fine! You want to die? Unplug yourself and deactivate your body. Just end it!"

"Brother, don't tell him to . ." Rikku started.

"Shut up! If he's stupid enough to wish for death then let him. What the hell, encourage him for all I care. I am!"

"Baralai, you can't!" Yuna turned to him. "You're one of the most brilliant of our people, we can't lose you!"

"She's right." Rikku said.

"Listen to them." Gippal said. "Don't get all suicidal. We need you here. You helped create the Dream Sequencer."

"Baralai." the voice made them all turn. Auron looked the Forever in the eyes, "They're right. All but Brother. You're needed. With your help maybe we can think of something."

Baralai looked them each in the eyes, "Fine." he said at last. Slowly he faded into the Dream Sequencer. All the Forevers except Auron vanished or faded as well. Once they were all gone he closed his eyes and hung his head.

"Our home . . ."

Author's Note: Yeah, only a few of the chapters will be any longer than two to three pages. As I said, any questions about the story or the _Ayreon_ Project in general just ask me. I don't understand all of the tiny details, but it's the larger ones that I do know. Certain aspects, such as Baralai having helped create the Dream Sequencer, I made up just to fill in.

- Thank-you for reading.


End file.
